FIFA 16 is the best game of football around

FIFA 16 may not catch your eye, but it certainly will grab your attention when you pick up the controller and start playing it. There’s a new sort of freedom in dribbling in the game that makes it feel more realistic. For instance, if you execute a slide tackle, you can take your first touch on the ground as you’re getting up to get an advantage on your opponent.

FIFA 16 feels like it’s been in a few extra training sessions to sharpen up. Its reactions are faster and it’s found an extra yard of pace since last season. It maintains the realism but injects a bit more ‘heavy metal’ as Jurgen Klopp would call it. Players seem more responsive to movements of the left stick, with a last-minute nudge to either side often enough to beat a defender or draw the foul when running at speed and if the momentum is with you. With the right player it’s also more effective from a standstill, shifting the player’s weight one way and then bursting the other past the defender.

Also in the game are fully licensed stadiums for every team in the Premiership. As well as looking the part, real fan chants have been recorded, and crowds have been given custom behaviours based on the team. You probably won’t make it through a match at Anfield without a chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and commentators notice and remark on Manchester City’s supporters doing the Poznan.

FIFA 16 isn't perfect. There are still some quirky animations in here that occasionally burst the realism bubble. Keepers are still prone to howlers, and a number of goals still come from daft rebounds off their lanky frames. Also the Finesse Shot appears to have been nerfed in such a way we barely use it now, which is a real shame. But make no mistake, FIFA 16 is the best game of football around. EA has evolved its engine rather than revolutionised it, and it's worked a treat. But, with friends or without, FIFA 16 plays a rock solid game of football and looks destined for glory again.